Tack-setting machine.



E. B. SITIMPSON.

Y TACK SETTING MACHINE.

APPLICAUON FILED APR. 29. I911.

Patented Sept. 5, 1916.

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E. B. STIMPSON.

TACK SETTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR-29. um.

Patented Sept. 5,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- J///////// III/III/Il/l v i l Inventor:

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STATES I ATE FIE TACK-SETTING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 5, 1916.

Application filed April 29, 1911. Serial No. 624,173.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN BALL STIMP- SON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and- State of New York, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Tack-Setting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to a machine intended primarily for setting tacks, although it will be understood that my invention is not to be limited to this use only, but on the contrary covers all uses to which my improvements can be put.

The machine is highly efiiective in use and its advantages will otherwise appear to those skilled in the art from an understanding of the following description in connection with the drawings.

In the drawings, which show one of the specific forms which my improvements may take in a tack-setting machine, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine within my invention; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the upper portion of that machine on an, enlarged scale; Fig. 3 is a detail view of the lower portion of Fig. 2 but difiers in showing. the plunger and pocket in their down position, and further, in showing the roadway and the stationary delivery chute in vertical section; Fig. 4L is an elevation of one of the two halves constituting the pocket showing. its supporting spring-v arm; Fig. 5 is an edge view of the parts shown in Fig. 4:; Fig. 6 is a plan view of the same parts; and Fig. 7 is a reverse view I showing the other side of the parts in Fig. i.

I will now describe the devices of the drawings, reserving it to the claims to point out the novel features andto define the scope of the improvements, it being understood that the claims will be given due range of equivalents.

1 is the base plate of the machine, 2 the pillar, and 3 the body supported on the pillar, said body having a horizontally extending arm at and a laterally extending head 5 which overhangs said arm. The head is provided with a pair of vertically extending sockets located side by side. In one socket slides the plunger 6 and in the other a stem 7. The plunger is reciprocated vertically by means of a foot lever acting on toggle arms. Thus, 8 designates said toggle arms, the lower of which is pivotally connected at 9 to the plunger 6. The upper toggle arm has trunnions that extend with hearing fit through the arms 5 of a fork in the head 5 of the machine. Upon the free ends of these trunnions are fixedly secured crank arms 11 and 12 respectively, the former showing a hook 11" at its extremity.

13 is a' bell crank lever fulcrumed at 11% to the back of the head of the machine (see Fig. 1), its upper arm being connected by a link 1 1 with the knuckle of the toggle and its lower arm being connected by a link 15 with the rear end of a foot lever 16 pivoted at 17 to the pillar. The result is that when the foot is applied to the forward end of the lever 16, to press same downwardly, the toggle is straightened to lower the plunger 6. On the other hand, releasing the foot lever relaxes the toggle and elevates the plunger by reason of the elevating action of the spiral spring 18 connecting the foot lever with the pillar of the machine.

19 is a driving stem extending axially from the lower end of the plunger 6 so as to be carried therewith. The reason why this member is called a driving stem is that it ultimately contacts with the head of the tack and drives same into the material as the plunger descends. The driving stem is well shown in front elevation in Fig. 2 where it will be seen that it has a cylindrical body portion connecting with a reduced extremity by a conical tapered portion 19 I say that the driving stem has a cylindrical body; as a matter of fact, as will be seen best from Fig: 3, said body is cut away at the side or fiatted, said flatted portion extending as shownto the conical portion of the stem and to its reduced extremity. The driving stem reciprocates in alinement with an anvil 20 supported on the arm 4 of the machine.

The stem 7 which, it will be remembered, slides in the pocket in the head of the machine at the side of the plunger, has a stud or screw 21 projecting from its side which is located in a vertically extending opening or cut-away portion 22 (Fig. l) in the side of the machine head 5 so that it does not interfere with the free up and down reciprocation of the stem until, in the downward reciprocation, said screw 21 strikes against the portion of the head of the machine at the lower end of the opening 22, thereby preventing further descent of the stem. The free end of the stem '7 below the machine head carries a pair of vertically depending spring arms 23 consisting of strips of springy metal. A bolt and wing nut 23 (Figs. 2 and 3) connects the spring arms so that, by adjusting the wing nut, varying degrees of tension can be given to the arms so as to require varying degrees of force to separate their lower ends. Said 1 wer ends of the arms extend toward the driving stem 19 and support each a half of the pocket 24 (Figs. 2 and The referred to parts are shown in detail on an enlarged scale, however, in Figs. at to 7. Each half of the pocket that is in axial alinement with the end of the driving stem 19 has a vertical recess or groove 25 preferably of the form best shown in Fig. 7. These grooves together form a vertical bore which, as will be hereinafter explained, receives the tack with its head extending horizontally across the bore and its point extending downwardly. The top of the bore of the pocket is enlarged as at 25 to loosely receive the head of the tack and leads to a portion 25 of reduced diameter which is smaller than the head of the tack and leads in turn to a still more reduced portion 25. lVhen the tack initially lodges in the bore of the pocket, it is supported therein by its head resting on the bottom of the portion 25 with its point extending downwardly into the portion 25 The descending driving stem 19 by entering the bore of the pocket contacts with the head of the tack and forces it downwardly through the portion 25 which results in spreading apart the two sides 2a of the pocket, and thence forces the tack out through the still more contracted portion 25 home into the material, said last named portion 25 serving to guide and keep in axial alinement the point or shank of the tack.

ln driving tacks, it is especially important that the two parts of the pocket do not grip the head of the tack too tightly or rigidly, as T have found after long experiment, because if they do, the usual result is that tl e tack is delivered crookedly from the pocket, with its point at an angle to the material and is consequently driven crookedly. However, by the feature which I am now about to describe, I hold the tack between the parts of the pocket with a delicate, yielding grip analogous to that of holding it between the thumb and finger of ones hand and with the result that the descending driving stem forces the tack axially through the pocket straight into the material. This feature consists in connecting the parts 2a of the pocket flexibly to the spring arms. For this purpose, the parts 24L are provided with vertically extending slots 26, down into which extend the ends of the spring arms, the free ends of which 27 bend inwardly into horizontally extending seats or grooves in the Wall of the slots. Finally, a pin 28 extends through each part 24 of the pocket and its spring arm, the hole in the spring arm through which the pin passes being large enough to provide some clearance. The result is that the pocket parts 24- are fulcrumed slightly on the spring arms before said spring arms are themselves compelled to yield by the spreading apart action on the pocket of the descending head of the tack driven as described before the driving stem. In short, the described combination of devices gives pocket which is delicate enough to handle tacks so that the machine drives them straight.

There are illustrated a magazine for containing the supply of tacks and also a means for delivering the tacks properly from the magazine to the pocket 24. The magazine includes a tack-holding box 29, the walls of which flare outwardly to its rim 29 constituting the mouth of the box 29. The wall of the box at its rim is provided with a plurality of suitable slots 29 The magazine box cooperates as usual with a fixed base plate 30. The magazine box 29 is rotatably mounted relatively to the baseplate in such manner that as a slot 29 is moved to become the lowermost slot a tack will drop from that slot to enter the roadway 32 and slide down the roadway; and, as the box 29 rotates, a plurality of tacks may thus be discharged one by one into the roadway 32 to drop toward the bottom of the roadway, piling up therein in a line one on top of another.

The chute L7 is a continuation of roadway 32; and the drop of the tack T from the mouthof the chute into the pocket 2% will be a very short one, much shorter than the distance between said parts in Fig. 8 because it will be understood that the pocket 2%, by reason of its spring arms 23, is gripping the driving stem 19 and is being carried upwardly with it until the top of the pocket strikes against the bottom of the chute, whereupon the driving stem, continuing upwardly, withdraws itself from the pocket and permits the tack to slip gently down into the pocket by itself with its shank pointing vertically downward and with the rim of its head held gently in the yielding manner heretofore described by the walls of the socket or bore formed by the two'parts of the pocket (compare Figs. 4 and 7 The importance of all this is that where the tack, which is a particularly difficult object to handle and set properly, is permitted to drop directly through the chute into the pocket without any provision to break the distance of fall, its proper lodgment in thepocket would be a matter of hit or miss instead of being uniform as it should-be in a practical machine.

I will now describe the means whereby the vertical reciprocatioi'i of the pocket and its stem is properly accomplished in step with that of the plunger and driving stem, and by which the pocket is snugly brought and held in contact with the delivery end of the chute 47 after the driving stem leaves it on its upward stroke.

As already indicated, the stem 7 that carries the pocket freely slides in its socket independent of any positive connection with the plunger 6 or its driving parts. Its downward stroke is brought about by the descending driving stem 19 entering the pocket 2i until it contacts with the tack-head upheld in the portion 25 (Fig. 7) whereupon the pocket is carried downwardly with the driving stem until the stem which supports the pockethas reached the point at which the stop screw 21 strikes against its abutment, whereupon the driving stem, continuing on its down stroke, forces the head of the tack down through the portions 25 and 25 of the bore of the pocket, with the result that said head forces and fulcrums apart the sides 24!: of the pocket and the tack is forced free from the pocket and is driven home into the material. positioned on the anvil 20. The initial resting place 25 of the tackhead and the fulcruming point 27 are preferably about opposite each other as shown in Fig. 7 so that once the tack-head has been forced below the portion 25 the sides 2-l of the pocket open up easily with a gentle clamping action on the head of the tack when same is forced downwardly by the driving stem. The tack once freed from the parts as of the pocket results in said parts clamping together against the driving stem which on its up-stroke thereby also brings about the up stroke of the pocket. However, to prevent dropping of the pocket away from its uppermost position in contact with the delivery chute after the driving stem has completely withdrawn itself as indicated in Fig. 2, I provide additional means as follows: 50 is a spiral spring connecting the hook 11 on the crank arm 11 (Figs. 1. and 2) with a horizontally extending link 51 pivoted at is to the head of the machine and at 52 to the pocket-supporting stem 7. This spring 50 is such that it has relatively slight spring action up to the time that the pocket in its up stroke strikes against the delivery chute -17, whereupon the spring is stretched and thereby given sufficient tension to maintain the pocket snugly against the delivery chute by reason of the fact that the crank arm 11 continues to swing upwardly as the toggles relaX into their final position in continuing to carry upwardly the plunger and driving stem 19. (in the other hand, it is to be particularly noted that on the down stroke, this tension on the spring 50 is released because the plunger and driving stem 19 has a considerable downward movement, as has also the crank arm 11 before the driving stem engages the pocket to carry it frictionally downward. Therefore, when this engagement occurs there is substantially no tension on the spring 50 or at any rate no tension sufficient to offer any resistance to the downcarrying of the pocket that would cause the driving stem to force the tack through and out of the pocket before the normal tacksetting position at the material is reached.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is: i

1. In a machine of the class described, the combination of pocket means comprising suspending arms tensioned to ard each other and parts which together hold the article to be set, said parts having slots loosely receiving the ends of the arms, and. pins through the respective parts and their arms permitting the ends of said arms to pivot in their slots.

2. In a machine of the class described, the combination of pocket means coi'nprising suspending arms tensioned toward each other and parts which together hold the article to be set, said parts having slots loosely receiving the ends of the arms, and pins through the respective parts and their arms permitting the ends of said arms to pivot in their slots, the free end of each arm within the slot fulcruming against the wall of the slot.

3. In a machine of the class described, the combination of pocket means comprising suspending arms tensioned toward each other and parts which together hold the article to be set, said parts having slots and recessed portions loosely receiving the ends of the arms, and pins through the respective parts and their arms permitting the ends of said arms to pivot in their slots, the free end of each arm being bent inwardly to fulcrurn against the wall of the slot which is there recessed to receive the same.

t. In a machine of the character described, the combination with depending leaf springs, of coacting article-holding jaws, each having a slot extending into the same from its upper end and arranged to receive the lower end of one of the springs, said jaws each having a rocking movement on the lower end of its respective spring and the walls of the slot constituting means for limiting such rocking movement.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWIN BALL STIMPSON. l/Vitnesses:

E. IV. SCHERR, J12, ALAN C. MCDONNELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for live cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

